Python OpenCV Reading Mp4 Video Formats

In this Python OpenCV article we are going to learn Reading Mp4 Video Formats, so first of all let’s talk about Python OpenCV.

What is Python OpenCV ?

OpenCV (Open Source Computer Vision Library) is free and open source computer vision and machine learning software library for Python. it is designed to help developers create computer vision applications by providing different functions for image and video processing, including:

Image and video processing: OpenCV provides tools for reading, writing and manipulating images and video files including functions for image filtering, color space conversion, image morphology and feature detection.
Object detection and recognition: OpenCV includes different tools for detecting and recognizing objects in images and video, including face detection, pedestrian detection and object tracking.
Machine learning: OpenCV provides alot of machine learning algorithms, including support vector machines (SVMs), decision trees and neural networks that can be used for image classification, object recognition, and other tasks.

Camera calibration and 3D reconstruction: OpenCV includes functions for camera calibration, stereo vision, and 3D reconstruction, which can be used to build 3D models from images and video.
User interface: OpenCV provides tools for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that can be used to display images and video and interact with users.

You can install Python OpenCV using pip command like this

pip install opencv-python

1	pip install opencv-python

Python OpenCV Reading Mp4 Video Formats

In OpenCV we can Read video either by using the feed from a camera connected to a computer or by reading a video file. The first step towards reading a video file is to create a VideoCapture object. Its argument can be either the device index or the name of the video file to be read.

In most cases, only one camera is connected to the system. So, all we do is pass ‘0’ and OpenCV uses the only camera attached to the computer. When more than one camera is connected to the computer, we can select the second camera by passing ‘1’, the third camera by passing ‘2’ and so on.

This is the complete source code for this article, make sure that you have added an mp4 video format in your working directory.

import cv2



# Create a VideoCapture object and read from input file
# If the input is the camera, pass 0 instead of the video file name
cap = cv2.VideoCapture('vid2.mp4')


# Check if camera opened successfully
if (cap.isOpened()== False):
  print("Error opening video stream or file")

# Read until video is completed
while (cap.isOpened()):
    # Capture frame-by-frame
    ret, frame = cap.read()
    if ret == True:

        # Display the resulting frame
        cv2.imshow('Frame', frame)

        # Press Q on keyboard to  exit
        if cv2.waitKey(25) & 0xFF == ord('q'):
            break

    # Break the loop
    else:
        break

# When everything done, release the video capture object
cap.release()

# Closes all the frames
cv2.destroyAllWindows()

import cv2

# Create a VideoCapture object and read from input file

# If the input is the camera, pass 0 instead of the video file name

cap = cv2.VideoCapture('vid2.mp4')

# Check if camera opened successfully

if (cap.isOpened()== False):

print("Error opening video stream or file")

# Read until video is completed

while (cap.isOpened()):

# Capture frame-by-frame

ret, frame = cap.read()

if ret == True:

# Display the resulting frame

cv2.imshow('Frame', frame)

# Press Q on keyboard to exit

if cv2.waitKey(25) & 0xFF == ord('q'):

break

# Break the loop

else:

break

# When everything done, release the video capture object

cap.release()

# Closes all the frames

cv2.destroyAllWindows()

So let me describe the code at the top we have imported OpenCV after that in the first line of the code we have created a VideoCapture object and we are reading the video from input file and after that we checking if the camera is opened successfully you can do this by if (cap.isOpened()== False): after we create a while loop because we want to read the video until the completion of the video and in the loop we capture the video frame by frame by using ret,frame = cap.read() and after we show the frame by using cv2.imshow().

at the end when everything is done we need to release the video capture by using cap.release()

You can download the sample video from below link

Sample Video For OpenCV Video Reading

If you run the complete code you will have your mp4 video playing in OpenCV window.